Why Jabrill Peppers expected to find himself in fight for starting job

Sunday

BEREA Jabrill Peppers isn’t the least bit surprised that he finds himself in a battle with Derrick Kindred for the Browns’ starting strong safety job.

And, for the record, Peppers absolutely views it as a legitimate competition.

When General Manager John Dorsey acquired free safety Damarious Randall via a trade with the Green Bay Packers in March, it was widely assumed by fans and media that Peppers would move to strong safety and start opposite Randall.

Peppers did in fact switch positions, giving him a chance to play more frequently in the box after routinely lining up 20-25 yards away from the line of scrimmage last season as the “angel” free safety for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

However, there’s no guarantee Peppers, the 25th overall pick in last year’s draft, will receive the starting nod over Kindred, a fourth-round selection in 2016. They shared first-team reps in spring practices, and Williams called it a “lights out” competition as mandatory minicamp wrapped up last month.

Then training camp opened Thursday with Peppers sidelined because of a groin injury he said he suffered while working out. On Friday, Peppers said he expects to practice “soon,” and coach Hue Jackson said he hopes Peppers is back in action “in the next week.” His setback has allowed Kindred to register more time with the starters.

“The production DK had last year, no one can knock that,” Peppers told the Beacon Journal/Ohio.com. “I can’t just expect to come in and just play strong safety just cause they drafted me. No. Do you see what he produced last year? I came into it expecting to compete.

“My mindset is I don’t know that (version of myself} last year. I can hardly watch tape of myself from last year. So this year, I don’t care what I’ve got to do, I’m proving to everybody, especially to myself, what I’ve got to offer and what I can do ‘cause last year that’s not what I did. So especially after my performance last year, no way I came into it thinking they were just about to say, ‘Here (is your starting job).’”

As a rookie last season, Peppers started all 13 games in which he appeared, missing three with toe and knee injuries. The coaching staff believes his best position is strong safety, but he primarily played free safety last year because Williams concluded there wasn’t a better option on the roster.

Peppers finished with 57 tackles, three passes defensed, a fumble recovery and few impact plays. His lone interception came in the season finale, when he played strong safety in a 28-24 loss at Pittsburgh that dropped the Browns to 0-16.

“You can’t run from [the record],” he said. “Yes, it’s a whole new team (this year), but at the end of the day, I was a part of that. I know me. I never ran from anything — good or bad. I take it on the chin. I know I had my part in that. I know we are going to do everything in our due diligence to make sure it never happens again. We know what we could’ve done more.

“Being the laughingstock of the league is something you take very, very seriously. All the disrespect thrown our way, we’re not going out like that again. I definitely can say that. We’re not going out like that again. I know a lot of guys are predicting Super Bowls and all this and that, but I’m not the predicting type. But I will say we’re not going to have another season like last year.”

Peppers, 22, is also determined to ensure his individual performance will never be as poor as it was in 2017. He got a shot a strong safety late in the year while Kindred missed the final two games with a wrist injury. Kindred started 10 of the 14 games in which he appeared and tallied 55 tackles, six passes defensed and an interception. The coaches praised him for his performance as a run defender.

Peppers said Kindred was “one of the best strong safeties in the league” last year.

“Last year, some guys didn’t have people pushing them. They just had their spot,” Peppers said. “This year, man, it’s literally every guy has got to compete for his spot at every position, and that’s how it should be. That brings out the best in people.”

Peppers was one of the players who started by default last year on what was the NFL’s youngest team. Dorsey replaced former head of football operations Sashi Brown, fired Dec. 7, and acquired 14 veterans of note this offseason to go along with nine drafted rookies.

“We’ve got almost a whole new team, a lot of guys who have proved themselves at different places, who come from winning, who call out things that guys do when it doesn’t result in winning — ‘You’re loafing on this play. You’re not touching all the lines,’” Peppers said. “I remember when Damarious first got here. We were doing ladder drills in OTAs. He was like, ‘Yo, we’ve got four more ladders. Y’all not finishing.’ Just things like that, we didn’t have that before.”

Randall’s presence frees Peppers to compete at his more natural position. Peppers never blamed his performance last year on being tasked to play so deep. He pinned it on himself for often over-thinking and thereby hesitating. Now he insists he knows the playbook much better and will be able to play faster. He’s also comfortable at strong safety.

“I’m just very instinctual around the ball. I’ve just always been like that,” Peppers said. “It’s the physicality aspect of it. Some games I barely got any tackles. That’s a testament to the line and the guys up front, but I like hitting. I feel like down there, the chances of me getting penalized for the way I like to hit are definitely minimized.

“We’ve got a lot of things that we can throw at an offense, and I want to be up there to reap some of the benefits. If (defensive end) Myles (Garrett) gets a strip-sack or something, go pick it up, so it just gives you more opportunities.”

The Browns are expecting significant improvement from Peppers.

“He is going to be playing a position that I think he feels is very natural, playing down around the football,” Jackson said. “So I am expecting big things.”

First, he’ll try to beat out Kindred, yet no matter how it plays out, Peppers is confident Williams will find ways to get the dueling strong safeties on the field at the same time.

“He’s a mastermind with that. He has different packages for whatever the offense is trying to do. That’s not what I’m worried about,” Peppers said. “I’m worried about staying healthy and being a completely different ball player than I was last year.

“People can say what they want. I have the highest expectations for myself, and I can’t watch film of myself last year. So with that chip on my shoulder, I’m just ready and willing to do whatever.”

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